DETAILED ACTION
This Office action is in response to the application filed on 06 September 2024.
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Priority
Receipt is acknowledged of certified copies of papers required by 37 CFR 1.55.
Response to argument
Applicant's arguments, see pg. 5, filed on 26 June 2026, with respect to the rejection of claim 1 have been fully considered but they are not persuasive. In response to applicant’s argument, “According to claim 1 of the subject application, the parasitic capacitance between the lower arm switching element and the heat sink refers to the connection point side of the upper and lower switching elements of the lower arm switching element and the heat sink. See, e.g., Par [0016], which discusses the impedance of a parasitic capacitance between the upper and lower arm switching elements. On the other hand, the capacitor C connected to the negative electrode side power semiconductor shown in Shiba is located between the negative electrode side power line 10n
(negative electrode side metal layer side) and the cooler 3. Therefore, the structure of claim 1 and Shiba are significantly different.”, it is noted that the claim does not specify any particular node to which the parasitic capacitances must be connected (see claim 1’s limitation "a parasitic capacitance between the lower arm switching element and a heatsink" and "parasitic capacitance between the upper arm switching element and the heatsink.").
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claims 1 and 2 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(1) as being anticipated by Shiba Toru (JP2020092518A; hereafter “Shiba”).
-Regarding claim 1:
Shiba discloses:
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A power conversion device (Fig. 4) which applies a voltage at a connection point (Fig. 4; red circles) of upper and lower arm switching elements (Fig. 4; red arrows in upper and lower) to a load (Fig. 4; blue arrow), wherein a parasitic capacitance (Fig. 4; C) between the lower arm switching element (Fig. 4; lower switches) and a heatsink (Fig. 4; ground) is smaller than (paragraph; “capacitor C and the negative filter capacitor (Fig. 2; 8) having the same capacitance.” and “the capacity of the filter capacitor can be reduced,” Therefore, the parasitic capacitance of lower arm switching element is the same as the parasitic capacitance of upper arm switching element divided by a number of switches in the lower arm switching system) a parasitic capacitance between the upper arm switching element (Fig. 4; upper switches) and the heatsink.
-regarding claim2:
Shiba discloses:
A power conversion device (Fig. 4) which applies a voltage at a connection point (Fig. 4; red circles) of upper and lower arm switching elements (Fig. 4; red arrows in upper and lower) to a load (Fig. 4; blue arrow), wherein a dielectric constant (from Fig. 4; C by the relation C=κC0, where κ is a dielectric constant) between the lower arm switching element (Fig. 4; lower switches) and a heatsink (Fig. 4; ground) is smaller than (paragraph; “capacitor C and the negative filter capacitor (Fig. 2; 8) having the same capacitance.” and “the capacity of the filter capacitor can be reduced,” Therefore, the parasitic capacitance of lower arm switching element is the parasitic capacitance of upper arm switching element divided by a number of switches in the lower arm switching system) a dielectric constant between the upper arm switching element (Fig. 4; upper switches) and the heatsink.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 7 and 8 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Shiba Toru (JP2020092518A; hereafter “Shiba”) in view of Tatsuki Kashihara et. al (US20200389118A1; hereafter “Tatsuki”).
-Regarding claim 7:
Shiba discloses:
The power conversion device (Fig. 4) according to claim 1
However, Shiba does not disclose a cooling device in power conversion device.
Tatsuki, in the same field of endeavor, discloses:
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cooling device which cools the upper and lower arm switching elements (paragraph 0084; “the flow of the sucked refrigerant,”), wherein the lower arm switching element is arranged so as to receive a stronger cooling effect from the cooling device than the upper arm switching element (Fig. 3; location of 18A~F compare to location of 18A~F in invention (Fig. 3), and paragraph 0084).
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device described in Shiba such that a commonly used cooling device described in Tatsuki is applied to the power conversion device. Doing so allows for improving the control of switching system in the power conversion device.
-Regarding claim 8:
Shiba discloses:
The power conversion device (Fig. 4) according to claim1,
However, Shiba does not disclose a compression mechanism of an electric compressor.
Tatsuki, in the same field of endeavor, discloses:
which applies a phase voltage at a connection point of the three-phase upper and lower arm switching elements to a motor (Fig. 1 is almost identical with Fig. 1 of invention) which drives a compression mechanism of an electric compressor, wherein the upper and lower arm switching elements of each phase are arranged in a heat exchange relation with a refrigerant sucked into the electric compressor (Claim 7), and the lower arm switching element is arranged on the upstream side of the sucked refrigerant than the upper arm switching element (Fig. 3; location of 18A~F compare to location of 18A~F in (Fig. 3) of invention) .
It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to modify the device described in Shiba such that a commonly used electric compressor described in Tatsuki is applied to the power conversion device. Doing so allows for improving the control of switching system in the power conversion device.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 3-6, and 9-10 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim.
The following is a statement of reasons for the indication of allowable subject matter:
-with respect to claim 3:
the prior arts in Tatsuki, and Shiba disclose the claimed invention in basic claims but do not further disclose about the thickness dimension interposed between the upper/lower arm switching elements and the heatsink
-with respect to claim 9:
the prior arts in Tatsuki, and Shiba disclose the claimed invention in basic claims but do not further disclose that the thickness of the sheet is set by using the ratio between a wiring length.
Conclusion
THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to SEUNG HO CHOI whose telephone number is (571)272-8188. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Thursday, 7:30 AM - 5:30 PM ET.
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/SEUNG HO CHOI/Examiner, Art Unit 2838
/CRYSTAL L HAMMOND/Supervisory Primary Examiner, Art Unit 2838
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